Changing Your Mind

In the old movie “Gallant Hours” about the five week period after Admiral Halsey takes over command of Guadalcanal in November 1942. A crucial turning point in the war with Japan, The movie does not feature a single battle, but rather follows the Admiral around as he makes tough decisions and thinks out strategic plans. It is a good movie about WWII and even better movie when it comes to leadership.

There are many quotes in the movie I like but the one for todays post is about changing your mind. At one point in the movie two different people suggest to the Admiral are you sure “the admiral may change his mind.” He ponders for a moment and says “Change my mind? You are the second person today to say that to me. Change my mind?” Then there is another pause and he goes on to say “You don't change your mind. You just go in a different direction.”

I think there is an important message in that. We often change our minds but did we really? Often times what happens is new information comes to us and we decided based on this intel to do something differently. So in a sense we did change our minds but in doing so we also changed the direction we were heading.

I will end this post with another thought to ponder “There aren't any great men. There are just great challenges that ordinary men like you and me are forced by circumstances to meet.” Admiral Halsey